Joseph f



(Specimens.)

J. P. SLEEPER & J. P. MILLER.

STOCKING. No. 415.582. Patented Nov. 19, 1889 ull- 7L I r w L m k g g/ 55555- Z IHVE Hmas 7 wn s UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH F. SLEEPER AND JOHN P. MILLER, OF LAOONIA, NE\V lflIAhIPSHIRE, ASSIGNORS TO FRANK P. HOLT, OF SAME PLACE.

STOCKING,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 415,582, dated November 19, 1889.

Application filed July 2'7, 1889. Serial No. 318,812. (Specimens) I To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOSEPH F. SLEEPER and JOHN P. M] LLER, of Laconia, in the county of Belknap and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stockings, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention has special reference to that class of stockings commonly known to knitting artisans as French foot stockings, and has for its object the avoidance of any seam in the leg in the structure of stockings of the kind referred to.

Our invention consists of a stocking having the leg portion formed as a circular seamless web, and a fashioned heel, foot, and toe with a scam extending from the toe to the heel along the bottom of the foot and along the line between the forward edge of the heel and the rear edge of the sole or instep portion of the foot.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same parts wherever they occur.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the lower leg and foot portion of a stocking constructed in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 is a front view of the lower leg and foot portions of our improved stocking, as the same will appear after the knitting is completed and the web is cast from the machine, the foot portion being developed or spread. Fig. 3 is a side view of the ankle and foot portions of the stockings shown in Fig. 2 with the parts folded to place, but before the free edges are united by seaming or looping. Fig. 4 is a similar View to Fig. 3, showing a slight modification of structure. I

In the production of our improved stocking we knit a tubular web for the leg portion a of the stocking, varying the length of the stitches in the parts designed to form the calf and ankle portions, if desired, or otherwise varying the diameter of the tube, or knitting it of the same diameter throughout in either ribbed or plain stitch, but without seam. We then pick the loops or stitches at one end of the tube so produced-say, from the pointsb around the rear at c to a point corresponding to b on the opposite side upon the needles of a machine adapted to the production of a fashioned heel (Z, and knit the latter, which knitting and fashioning of the heel may be We then pick the loops at the lower tion additional needles at the ends of the row holding the last-mentioned picked-on loops, so as to commence the knitting of a web, as along the line 9 g, Fig. 2, and knit a web for the foot portion h, transferring the stitches inward, so as to form narrowings along the lines t' 01, and construct a gusset for the instep portion of the stocking; then knitting the foot portion as a straight flat web to the toe j, where we effect narrowings to properly shape the toe by the transference of stitches, preferring to employ box-narrowings, as at k 70. We then finally fold the web forming the foot portion, uniting the edges Z Z in any suitable manner, and likewise joining the rear edges 'm of the foot portion to the forward edges n of the heel, uniting the cast-off loops at the end of the toe portion, as at 0, and the cast-off loops at the lower edges of the heel, as at p, completing the stocking, as shown in Fig. 1.

Instead of forming the heel in a single piece or as an Aiken heel it may be formed in any other suitable or desired manner-for example, it may be formed in two separate fashioned parts, as shown in Fig. l, in which case p in finishing the stocking the free edges-r r of the two parts comprising the heel will be seamed or looped together? The narrowings e' 'i may be formed along a line near the bottom of the foot, as in Fig. 1, or in the center of the side, as in Fig. 3, orat a point intermediate of the center of the side and the bottom of the foot, or, indeed, omitted altogether. Again, the heel may be given the common round or bulge form.

The mode of procedure hereinbefore described has been found convenient in the manufacture of our improved stocking, though the said mode or process may be va ried without in anywise affecting the nature or spirit of our invention.

The art of knitting our improved stocking forms no part of our present invention, said art being made the subject of a separate application filed by us April 20, 1889, No. 308,9at2.

Having thus explained the nature of our invention and described forms in which the same may' be constructed, we declare that what we claim is 1. A stocking having the leg portion formed as a circular seamless web, and a fashioned foot, heel, and toe, with a seam extending from the toe to the heel along the bottom of the foot and along the line between the forward edge of the heel and the rear edge of the sole or instep portion, as set forth.

2. A stocking having the leg portion form ed as a circular seamless web, and a fashioned foot, heel, and toe, the latter having the boxnarrowings 7;, with a seam extending from the toe to the heel along the bottom of the foot and along the line between the forward edge of the heel and the rear edge of the sole or instep portion, as set forth.

3. A stocking having the leg portion formed as a circular seamless web, and a fashioned foot, heel, and toe, the instep portion of the foot being provided with a gusset, and the toe portion having the box-narrowings 71;, with a seam extending from the toe to the heel along the bottom of the foot and along the line between the forward edge of the heel and the rear edge of the sole or instep portion, as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 12th day of July, A. D. 1889.

JOSEPH F. SLEEPER. JOHN P. MILLER. Witnesses:

S. JEWETT, GEORGE E. LANE. 

